Chapter 143: <Competition>

The Q&A session lasted a long time. Woosung answered smartly to every question and the SEC officials nodded in satisfaction.

After 30 minutes, Charles Brown turned to his colleagues and asked, “Do you have any more questions for this gentleman?” They all shook their heads. Charles turned to Woosung. “We’re done then. You may go.”

Woosung nodded and left the room.

When he left the building, he saw Julia White waiting for him.

She was smiling brightly surrounded by men in expensive suits. They started to approach Woosung slowly.

However, Woosung was quickly surrounded by his bodyguards.

Woosung ordered, “It’s fine.”

The bodyguards moved aside slightly so Julia could approach Woosung.

“As I’ve said, everyone is interested in Coconut.”

One of the men in suits asked Woosung, “I am Morgan Stanley’s Patrick Emil. I would like to talk to you in private.”

Another person shouted as well, “Hello. I’m from Citigroup.”

Men from big companies fought to get Woosung’s attention. Julia looked around and murmured, “This is America, the land of capitalism. By the way, Alex said you had an offer for me?”

Woosung nodded.

Julia said to him, “Shall we go then?”

They arrived at the Four Season’s top floor suite room. It cost 30,000 dollars per night.

Woosung asked for room service of snacks while Julia looked around the room.

“You really are a billionaire.”

“Yes.”

“Haha, but it’s surprising. I don’t see any evidence of drinking or women.”

“We’re not here to talk about my private life.”

Julia nodded. The room service arrived quickly.

Woosung took a sip of his ice coffee and asked, “Alex must have told you about the offer. Did you have other questions?”

“Is it true you want to make Coconut Pay into an international service like PayPal?”

“Yes. I want to make it even bigger than PayPal.”

“I also heard a rumor you are behind the LetPay in China.”

“I can’t confirm that at this point.”

“What do you plan to do with the money you make by listing Coconut?”

“Invest. I plan on investing in a business I have been working on.” Woosung took another sip. He continued, “I feel like I am being interviewed.”

“Haha, to win a genius like me, it’s the least you can do.”

“I realize there aren’t many who graduated from MIT and work as a director at JP Morgan. However, the position you will take in my company is a bigger job than you have right now. You haven’t proven yourself for this particular position yet. I believe in Alex’s recommendation, but you will need to prove yourself to me too.” Woosung continued quickly, “You will get the job whether you pass the test or not, but your salary will change based on your performance.”

“So you will decrease your salary offer if I fail the test?”

“No, my offer still stands, but if you pass, I will offer you even more money.”

“Can you explain it to me?”

“Currently, Coconut has been assessed as worth 80 billion dollars. Everyone agrees with the assessment, but I don’t like it.”

Julia nodded. Woosung drank his coffee and continued.

“I want it to be listed at the same value as Facebook or better. If you can achieve that, I will give you some Coconut stock shares.”

“How much?”

“10 million dollars worth.”

“Pardon?”

“I will give you 10 million dollars worth of shares. If you prefer, I will give you 10 million dollars in cash.”

10 million dollars.

Her current salary was 200,000 dollars a year. After various taxes, fees, and paying off monthly tuition loan, she was left with 5000 dollars every month.

It was a lot of money, but it was still not enough for her.

10 million dollars?

With it, she could pay back all her debt, buy a house in New York, and anything she wanted.

“It’s a good offer.”

“If you fail, the job offer still stands with the same conditions. If you get this job done, you will get 10 million dollars on top of it. What do you think?”

Julia smiled and shook his hand.

“Deal!”

Woosung murmured, “By the way, can I ask you to dress a little more conservatively?”

Woosung wouldn’t want to say anything, but he felt like it was necessary. Julia was wearing a skirt so short whenever she moved in the chair, it showed too much.

The top three buttons of her blouse were also undone. Her bra was showing quite obviously.

“But why? I dressed like this to seduce you, and I got the job so it worked!”

“No. You got the job because of your skills.”

“Well, that’s what you say but I will never know, will I? This has worked very well for me for the remainder of my life. Do you know the glass ceiling index for America?”

Woosung shook his head. He expected it to be okay considering this was America.

“It is worse than the OECD average. Korea is even worse by the way. The way I dress and act is how I learned to survive this male-dominated world. If you are saying I don’t have to do this anymore, then that would be great.”

When Woosung nodded, Julia stood up.

“Then I better get to work.”

***

At an expensive bar in New York Manhattan.

Liam, who was drunk, murmured, “Dammit! I made them so much money, yet this is how they reply to me? I know I made a mistake, but still…”

He felt betrayed.

It was hard leaving his work.

Liam poured another drink. He couldn’t stand the situation.

Suddenly, Woosung sat beside him and ordered the same drink.

He murmured, “Williams Liam. Ryan Capital head manager, but you recently lost your job.”

“What? Who are you?”

“I am the one behind the serial number xxxxxx.”

Liam froze. He turned around quickly.

“W…what?”

“KND Investment CEO and the one who won our little game.”

Liam raised his hand and ordered, “Ice water please!”

The bartender brought him the water and Liam gulped it down. He then turned to Woosung again.

“Can you repeat that again?”

“If you are interested, follow me.”

Liam followed.

Woosung took Liam to his hotel room and asked, “Answer my question without a calculator. You have 5 seconds. 321*411?”

“131931.”

Liam was still drunk, but his answer was immediate and confident.

“35?2?”

“1225.”

“34412/23?”

“4.”

It didn’t even take a second for each answer.

Woosung was surprised. He pointed at the whiteboard he prepared and asked, “Solve the Black-Sholes equation.”

Liam wrote out the equation quickly. It was over 10 lines, yet he finished it quickly. He was clearly a mathematical genius.

“Why would you drink yourself to death when you have such an amazing brain?”

“How did you know I was following your transactions?”

Woosung pointed at his head.

“You are not the only smart one in this town.”

“And that is why you tricked me at the last minute?”

“Haha, talk about the pot calling the kettle black!”

Liam panted. There was nothing he could say.

Woosung continued, “I heard you lost your job.”

“Thanks to you.”

“I think you’re great. Your ambition, skills, and boldness. If you think you can control your pride, I am willing to offer you a good deal.”

“…”

“What do you think?”

“I have one question. Did you get the information from someone in OPEC? How is it that you knew?”

“I will tell you when we have a more trustful relationship.”

After brief thinking, Liam nodded.

Woosung added, “I will first have you work on the algorithm trading tuning. I will give you more details tomorrow.”

Woosung made a quick call and his bodyguard walked in. Woosung ordered him to drive Liam home safely.